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Museum of Welsh Life tel: 029-2057-3500 Area: Wales |
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| Visitor Information | www.nmgw.ac.uk -- email: |
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Museum of Welsh Life |
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| Opening Days and Hours | ||||||
All year except 24th -26th December and New Year's Day; 10am - 5pm. |
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| Parties
/ Coaches: Yes |
Groups
/ Coaches need Appointment: Yes Groups of 20+ should tel.to book. |
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House
Open for Viewing: Yes |
National
Garden Scheme days: No |
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Best
Times of Year to Visit: |
To
see: |
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| Admission Prices | ||||||
| Free. Car Parking £3.50 per day. 12-month season ticket for £15. |
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| Onsite Facilities | ||||||
| Parking:
Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes |
Shop:
Yes Plants for Sale: No Lunches: Yes |
Teas:
Yes Light Refreshment: Yes Picnics: Yes |
Dogs
Allowed: Yes On Lead only: Yes Special Events: Yes |
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| Other
Facilities: Some areas difficult for disabled. |
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| Garden Features | ||||||
| Restored late Victorian Rosery and recently restored Italian Garden (featured on Hidden Gardens series on BBC2). Recreated domestic gardens around re-erected buildings, reflecting horticultural development from the 16th century to the present day. | English Heritage Garden Grade: I | |||||
| National Collection: | ||||||
| Description of Garden | Designer:
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| On a bluff above the Ely River is a D-shaped court which is surrounded by a 13th-century curtain wall, 2 metres thick. The moat on the east and north sides has been filled in and the parapets rebuilt. It is surrounded by a 100-acre parkland with over thirty original buildings, all of which were moved from various parts of Wales and re-erected here to show how the people of Wales lived at various times in history. It contains both formal gardens and cottage gardens designed to show the contrast between gardens created for leisure and those with more domestic uses. From the grand terraces there are sweeping views down over pools and ponds designed to reflect their surroundings. There is a restored Victorian rose garden and parterre all of which contrasts with the recreated domestic plots where fruit, vegetables and herbs show the type of productivity typical of the cottage garden. |
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| History of Garden | ||||||
| Peter le Sore raised a ringwork here after dispossessing the Welsh lord, Meurig ap Hywell, in 1091. In the early 14th century the castle passed to the le Vele family by marriage, and in 1475 it passed to David Mathew when he married Alice le Vele. The descendants of their daughters sold the castle to Dr John Gibbon in c1560, who built a fine mansion in the court. Either he, or Sir Nicholas Herbert of Cogan Pill, who purchased the castle in 1584, laid out the outer court to the north. The castle was sold again in 1616 to Sir Edward Lewis of The Van, near Caerphilly, and became the chief Lewis residence. In 1730 the 3rd Earl of Plymouth married the heiress of Elizabeth Lewis. Some decorative work was undertaken in the 1760s, but by 1815 the building was neglected and used only by a farmer. It was restored in the 1850s, most of the formal gardens being developed between the 1860s - 1900s, and in 1946 was presented to the National Museum of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth, the grounds being opened as the Welsh Folk Museum in 1948. |
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| Nearby Wales Hotels, Facilities & Amenities | ||||||
| Hotels
& Accommodation: Mill Farm, Pontypool |
Restaurants: The Plymouth Arms, St Fagans The Old Post Office, St Fagans |
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| Inns & Pubs: The Old Post Office, St. Fagans Caesar's Arms, Creigiau Bush Inn, St. Hilary Blue Anchor Inn, East Aberthaw |
Villages / Towns
/ Sightseeing: Cardiff South Wales Coast Vale of Glamorgan |
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*Information
Updates
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0081_museumWelshLIfe.jpg - Museum of Welsh Life (Wales)
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